


*Insert Humorous Dog-Related Idiom Here*

by ToiletPaperPrincess



Series: Miscellaneous Fics [14]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, Fluff, Furry, Sharing a Bed, Sleepy Cuddles, petting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 02:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13694757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToiletPaperPrincess/pseuds/ToiletPaperPrincess
Summary: Shu has trouble sleeping.  Mai tries to help him relax.





	*Insert Humorous Dog-Related Idiom Here*

**Author's Note:**

> Reading [a sci-fi novel with explicit human/furry romance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sholan_Alliance) \+ the Super dub getting up to the "lol it's Mai/Trunks time" arc + stress = this, apparently?
> 
> I didn't have any particular point in continuity in mind when I wrote this, but it's probably before Z and definitely before their de-aging.

“ _Pssst. ...Psssssssssst.”_

One might expect that it was the lifetime of quasi-military combat training that had sharpened Mai’s reflexes to saber perfection, but more likely it had been the lifetime of having to hear, understand and obey oddly specific commands within seconds of their being shrieked. Regardless, she snapped immediately out of a deep sleep, yanked a handgun out from under her pillow and swung it in the direction of the noise, all before opening her eyes.

“Whoa! Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!!”

It came out as a strangled whisper, but the voice and the flailing white paws (all she could distinguish in the darkness) identified Shu immediately. Mai let out a breath, relaxing her grip on the gun. Only then did she notice she’d been holding it upside down.

“’Sup?” she asked, sliding it back under her pillow. There was no need to look over at Pilaf’s bed; the silence made it abundantly clear that he was not awake.

“Uh.” Shu’s paws gripped her comforter, tail flicking back and forth anxiously. “I, uh. I had that d-dream again. Mind if I...?”

“No, I don’t mind.”

With a grateful sigh Shu clambered up, pacing around in a small circle before curling up at the foot of the bed. Under the sheets Mai scooted her legs out of his way.

“I know it’s pretty dumb,” Shu hissed, apologetic, “but I just—I mean—I c-can’t help what I _dream_ abou—”

“It’s a scary-sounding vacuum cleaner,” Mai said simply. “I’ll make sure we get a different brand next time.”

Another grateful sigh. “Thanks.”

“Mmm.”

“’Night, Mai.”

“’Night, Shu.”

Silence.

Mai pressed her face back into her pillow, trying to let her eyelids drift shut. Somehow, they just didn’t want to. Pushing the handgun back to a more comfortable distance didn’t help. Maybe it was the ragged, nasal snoring from the next bed over. Maybe it was the slight creaking of the mattress beneath her as Shu adjusted his position—rolling over a little, maybe, or just twitching his legs.

Mai sat up.

“Shu,” she whispered.

She could see a little better now. He lifted his face from his arms, blinking groggily. “Huh? Yeah?”

“How come you do it like that?”

“Do what?”

“Sleep. Like that, down there, I mean. At the foot of the bed.” She shifted slightly, arms already uncomfortable propping her up. “I know you sleep normal—I mean—u- _under_ the sheets when you’re in your own bed.”

“But this ain’t my own bed.” Shu blinked. “It’s yours.”

“Well, yeah—”

“I mean, this’s how it is when Emperor has a nightmare, right? We lie down at the foot of his bed.”

“Yeah, but—” Mai shifted position again. “—but that’s Emperor. And that’s when _he_ has a nightmare. You’re the one who had a nightmare this time.”

“Oh.”

Shu wrinkled his nose, thinking it over.

“You saying that _you_ should be sleepin’ at the foot of _my_ bed?” Shu gulped suddenly. “C-cus you don’t haveta! Really!”

“No, silly, I—”

Mai paused. What _had_ she meant? Oh, right.

“I mean, you don’t _have_ to be at the foot of the bed if you don’t want.”

Her arms won out. She flopped down onto her back again.

“You can come up here with me if you want to. It’s fine.”

Silence.

The mattress creaked sharply, just once, then the weight subsided back to where it had been. A nervous step immediately walked back.

“O-oh, uh, well, I—”  


“Or not,” Mai said, a little louder than she’d intended. They both winced as the nasal snoring sputtered, waiting for it to resume.

A whisper now. “Do whatever you want. I don’t mind.”

The weight wobbled.

“Uh. U-uh. I. If you...I mean, if you’re _really_ —”

“I’m not like Emperor.”

“ _Heh!_ I sh-should _say_ not.”

A moment more of indecisive creaking. Then at last the bed began to bounce, buckling and heaving as Shu scampered all the way up. Mai couldn’t help but laugh. She scooted back, offering half her pillow, which Shu burrowed into gratefully. Then an affronted snuff, and Shu gingerly pulled out the handgun. Mai took it from him and put it on the floor.

A few more wriggles and Shu was settled, curled in on himself slightly, his back to her. He remained on top of the sheets.

“’Night, Mai,” he mumbled. His tail twitched.

She smiled.

“’Night, Shu.”

Silence.

The tail continued twitching, jerkily at first, spasmodically, before easing into a gently swaying rhythm. His breathing eased similarly, and Mai found her own starting to match it. Even the raspy snores were starting to sound almost melodic.

_THUMP._

“Sorry!” Shu snatched at his tail, pulling it almost around to the front.

“’S’fine.” Mai yawned and scooted backward again, almost falling off the bed in her attempt to stay out of Shu’s wagging range. The yawn broke off halfway. “Oh. Do you want to roll over?”

Shu did so automatically. But when he found himself nose to nose with Mai, she blinking innocently, he squeaked and rolled right back around.

“I’ll roll over too,” she said. “How’s that?”

Mai took the muffled grunt as a yes. The bed creaked as they rolled over in perfect sync, Mai now facing the opposite wall and Shu facing her back. A few more _thump_ s as his tail wagged against the mattress unimpeded.

“’Night, Mai.”

“’Night, Shu.”

Silence.

But only for an instant, because as soon as Mai’s eyes properly closed, they snapped back open again. Shu was whimpering.

“You okay?” she whispered just as he groaned “ _Sorry_ ” again.

“The smell’s so strong now,” he whined, nuzzling so far into her long black hair that his nose bumped the nape of her neck. Mai shivered, and he jerked back. “I-I mean, it’s a, it’s a _good_ smell, good shampoo smell, I just—f-first your pillow, now I’m facin’ right into your hair, I just, sorry, I—”

Mai turned, and Shu winced, but she took pity and just landed on her back rather than fully face him again. “ _I’m_ sorry,” she murmured. The smirk was half amused and half rueful. “I’m just making it harder for you to sleep, huh?”

Shu hunched his shoulders. “’S’not your fault.”

“’S’not your fault, either.”

“Yeah, but...”

The thought trailed off.

How was it that, after all these years together, this was the first such moment? The first sense of shyness in their easy, friendly intimacy? They’d hugged each other often as children. They even still held hands occasionally during frightening missions. Mai even, when Shu was stressed and Emperor Pilaf deigned to leave them alone for a few precious moments, would help relieve his tension by—

 _Oh_. Mai’s face lit up. _That_ might work.

“Want me to scratch you?”

Shu’s ears flattened, eyes darting about. “Oh, uh—that’d be nice, but, y’know, y’don’t _hav—_ ”

“It’d relax me, too.”

“Well, in _that_ case—!”

He’d flopped onto his belly in an instant, and Mai couldn’t help laughing again, muffling the noise with her palms. The laughter remained as a broad, warm grin as she rolled onto her side and touched her fingers to the back of Shu’s skull—though the laughter threatened to burst out again when she saw the ferocity with which his tail was wagging.

Mai worked slowly and surely, with a practiced hand. Digging the nails in just there. Massaging the scalp just so. Always following the direction of his fur, which she knew so well without having to look, just as she knew every spot to favor and every spot to avoid.

Shu groaned appreciatively, arching his back into a mighty stretch.

“Hoooooo boy. Oh, that’s good.” His tongue lolled out as he panted. “Who’s a good gal? It’s Mai. _You’re_ a good gal.”

Mai let her thumb trace the outer rim of his ear—causing a muffled _yip_ —before rubbing down into the back of his neck. By then Shu’s tail was making such slow, lazy arcs that she could easily avoid it while working her way down his back, smoothing the creases in his pajama top. As always, she stopped when she reached the waist.

Mai had only removed her hand in order to start back again at the top, but Shu let out a whine and rolled over. A bit of a surprise, but not uncommon. Leaning over, Mai scratched gently under his chin, dragged her fingertips slowly down his throat, massaging first his chest and then his exposed stomach with a hesitance that became more sure and confident with every grateful sigh she heard.

“Higher?” Shu mumbled. Mai obeyed without question, hand sliding under the shirt to trace circles in the soft, slightly sweat-slicked fur beneath. She tried to raise her arm too high and off popped one of the shirt buttons. Both dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Though Mai hadn’t thought she was done, Shu flopped over again, settling heavily down on top of her. Her hand, still on his chest, was pinned between them until he shifted enough for her to withdraw it.

“Yer the best,” he slurred drowsily, nuzzling into Mai’s exposed shoulder. “’ll haveta give ya a b-back rub tomorrow. Remind me, ’kay?”

Suddenly his whole body tensed, as if only just realizing the position they were in (regardless of the fact that there was still a layer of bedsheets wedged between them). But Mai’s arms folded gently around him, and she murmured an “Mm-hmm” into his forehead, and he slumped back into her.

Their breathing was drifting back into sync. In, out. Long and slow.

Shu’s fur tickled her throat as he rubbed his face against her. A deep inhalation through his nose, breathing in her scent.

Mai pressed a soft kiss to his forehead without thinking.

Shu’s tongue rolled across her skin just as easily.

It was just as lazy and languorous as the petting had been, just the most natural thing in the world. Shu’s paws gripped her sides through the sheets while her long fingers threaded through his fur. Faces nuzzled together, touching each other with noses as often as with mouths. Mai’s hair, the strap of her nightgown, nudged aside in search of her smooth, cool skin. At last she bodily lifted Shu—not _too_ far away—and kicked the sheets off of her. He was the most important blanket anyhow.

Cautious and gentle though he was, her neck was already raw with tooth marks. Shu licked at them apologetically, sloppily. Mai planted her lips on his nose, released, waited for him to lift his face higher, and got him on the mouth.

They both stopped.

They blinked at each other for a moment.

“ _That’s_ what that’s like?” Shu murmured, awed.

Mai nodded, a broad, shy smile creeping across her face. “...I guess.”

Silence.

They did it again.

“Wow,” said Shu.

“ _WHAT’S THAT RACKET?_ ” said someone else.

Mai and Shu both screamed, so thoroughly jolted that they tumbled off the mattress into an even more suggestive-looking tangle of limbs on the floor. Their heads whipped about in a nervous panic, searching, but the lumpy silhouette of Emperor Pilaf sitting up in his own bed was rubbing at its eyes. His sight didn’t seem to have yet adjusted to the darkness.

“Nothing!” Shu yelped, scrambling out from under Mai just as she staggered to her feet and squeaked “ _What_ racket?”

“ _That_ racket! The snuffling and groaning and _breeeeeeathing!_ ” The rubbing hand lowered and Pilaf glared, though not quite in the direction of his underlings. “What, one of you have a nightmare or something?”

A deep sigh of relief.

“Th-that was me,” Shu offered, raising his paw. “I was snufflin’ and groanin’ and breathin’ cus that was me tossin’ and turnin’ and havin’ a nightmare.”

“And he asked if he could sleep in my bed,” added Mai. She pulled her shoulder strap up self-consciously.

Pilaf regarded them for a long, nerve-wracking moment.

Soon enough they were all back in bed. The Emperor’s bed. Mai and Shu on either side of the Emperor, lying stock-still on top of the sheets the Emperor was tucked under, because he wanted to see what it was like.

Within five minutes he’d thrown a tantrum and Mai and Shu were exiled to the foot of the bed. The air remained tense for about an hour, but at last ragged, nasal snores began to echo again.

Shu rolled over hesitantly, trying not to jostle the mattress too much. Mai was already curled up on her side, facing him. Even in the darkness it was clear her face was flushed.

Shu shied away, tail drooping anxiously between his legs. But Mai’s fingertips gently brushed his cheek.

“’Night, Shu,” she whispered. An awkward half-embarrassed, half-apologetic grin. “Sweet dreams.”

He barked out a giggle, slapping his paw over his mouth as Pilaf’s silhouette shuddered.

“You too, Mai.” His eyelids finally drifted shut. “’Night.”


End file.
